While the event (originally called Consumer Electronics Show) has not been always spot-on when it comes to predicting the future of technology, it is still widely regarded as a trend-setting showcase, and a must-attend for the techie crowd.

This year, three currents were highlighted as particularly significant for the world to come.

Google Assistant ads took over Las Vegas during CES

One of them was, of course, Artificial Intelligence, which was defined as the driving force of the current technology wave. During the opening keynote, Steve Koenig and Lesley Rohrbaugh —lead researchers of CES organiser CTA—explained how AI will help us do things “we don’t care to do, we can’t do, and we need all the help we can get to do.”

AI will be key for the development of emerging technologies such as self-driving cars, CTA highlighted. But even more, AI-powered speech recognition and natural language processing are going to power the impending voice revolution.

This year, Alphabet has taken advantage of CES to push forward with the promotion of its Google Assistant— which is embedded in smart speaker Google Home and Android smartphones. CTA predicted that, in the US, sales of voice-powered smart speakers will peak in 2019, before slightly declining in the following biennium.

Another key trend to watch is the emergence of 5G Internet, a new standard of wireless broadband connection, expected to launched in some parts of the US later this year.

Apart from making mobile Web navigation much quicker, 5G will be key for a number of Internet-powered technologies, from wireless Virtual Reality, to self-driving cars, to wearables or IoT home appliances, to smart cities applications.